'Til Death Do Us Part (32 page)

BT, Gary and Mrs. D

Gary
chanced
a look back as
Deneaux
rocketed down the roadway.
“
I can
’
t see BT!
”
h
e yelled in an attempt to get past the whipping of the wind.

“
I haven
’
t had this much fun in decades!
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
yelled back.
“
I guess I could use a cigarette
,
though.
”
She opened the throttl
e up a little bit more.
Gary looked over her shoulder and realized they were nearing a hundred and ten miles an hour. He gripped her bony waist a little bit tighter.

She laughed for a few moments and let the bike begin to coast down to a stop. BT was barely a dot on the horizon
as Mrs.
Deneaux
was finishing her smoke.

“
Aren
’
t cigarettes just like potato chips?
”
Gary asked her.

“
What?
”
s
he said as she ground the stub out under her heel.

“
Nobody can have just one.
”

“
Miss your friend?
”
she asked
as she effortlessly produced another smoke.

“
I
’
ll tell you what I don
’
t miss.
”

She looked over at him.

“
I don
’
t miss going a hundred and ten miles per hour.
”

“
You must have sucked your mama
’
s teets too long,
”
s
he said as she took a puff from her cigarette.

“
I was bott
le fed,
”
h
e replied
,
not able to think of anything else to say.

She
‘
hurumphed
’
and looked back to the open road that they needed to travel.

B
T pulled up a few minutes later. H
e had a death grip on his handlebars
and
looked like a crash test dummy
due to
sitting so rigid in his seat.

“
She
’
s fucking nuts,
”
Gary said to BT.
“
Please let me ride with you?
”

“
Did she almost crash?
”
BT asked
,
slowly getting off his bike.

Gary shook his head with a questioning look.

“
I almost dumpe
d twice.
You’re
better off with her.
”

“
She
’
s trying to beat the speed of sound
,
BT.
”

“
Is this love fest over?
”
Deneaux
asked
,
throwing her butt to the side of the road.
“
We
’
ve got a lot of miles to roll and it looks like we might get some weather.
”

“
Can we maybe find something with four wheels?
”
Gary asked.

“
And miss out on all this fun?
”
BT added as he rubbed blood back into his arms.

“
We can find something for you two ladies, but I
’
m keeping this ride. Let
’
s go
, bitch,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said to Gary.

“
I don
’
t r
eally appreciate that,
”
h
e said as he walked over towards her.

“
It
’
s just an expression.
”
She smiled.

“
Could you maybe at least keep me in sight this time?
”
BT asked as he reluctantly hopped back on his bike.

“
I need gas,
”
w
as her reply as she started the bike up.

“
How far is Maine from here?
”
Gary asked.

“
Gotta be close to
seven hundred miles,
”
BT told him.
“
And then another hundred and fifty or so to get to Ron
’
s.
”

“
At top speed we cou
ld make it
in
six and a half hours,
”
Deneaux
said
,
staring at Gary trying to gauge his reaction.

Gary had no desire to do the math and figure out how fast they would be traveling. He
once again wrapped his arms around her waist
,
fearful he might break her in half
,
then he would be
‘
ghost
’
riding a
‘
murder cycle
’
. And that wouldn
’
t do…
not at all.

Somewhat true to her word
,
Deneaux
kept her speed down to a semi-
suicidal
rate
somewhere in the mid-seventies
. BT was sort of keeping pace as he pushed his bike to a speed right outside his comfort zone
of
sixty.

“
Fucking old bat,
”
h
e said as another bug slammed into the side of his face.
“
Who in their right mind would want to ride one of these things?
”
Shit Mike must have been a world class rider.
BT grinned at the thought.
“
I miss you
, man,
”
BT said
,
stealing a quick glance upwards.
“
I hope you made it there.
”

Deneaux
would slow down as they approached cars on the side of the road, Gary checked out more than a few, looking for ones that weren
’
t battle damaged or had gas and keys handy. It was the only thing keeping them from losing BT again.

“
Stop stalling or I
’
ll smoke while I
’
m riding,
”
Deneaux
threatened.

“
I
’
m not stalling
,
I
’
m looking carefully,
”
Gary told her.

“
I see you repeatedly looking back for your boyfriend. He
’
ll catch up. Come on
, I think I
see a traffic jam up ahead, I
’
m sure
there’ll
be something
that
you two girly men will be able to
use, maybe a mini-van or a Prius.
”

“
Fine,
”
Gary said reluctantly.

Within a few minutes they were up by a snarl of cars that was L.A. worthy.

“
What happened?
”
Gary asked as he got slowly off the bike.

A snarky comment was on
Deneaux
’
s
lips
,
but even she was lost in the devastation that was R
oute
22
.

Even with the motorcycles
it was going to be difficult to get around the carnage. Mrs.
Deneaux
brough
t the bike to halt at the outer-most edge of the debris field.
She
stood up to get a better view,
shielding
her eyes as sh
e tried her best to see the end.
She
was not successful.

Gary got off the back;
his legs were weak partly from
Deneaux
’
s
excessive speed
,
but mostly from the devastation in front of them.
“
It must
go for miles,
”
he said flatly.

“
I would think you
’
d be able to find a car that would suit your needs in there.
”
Deneaux
motioned with her hand as she grabbed a cigarette from her saddle bag.

“
This doesn
’
t affect you?
”
Gary asked incredulously.

“
What? I
’
m smoking a cigarette aren
’
t I?
”

“
These were people with hopes and dreams.
”

“
What would you like me to say
,
Gary? I don
’
t have any words of comfort for you, I didn
’
t know them.
”

“
And if you did?
”

“
Probably still wouldn
’
t care.
”
She
took another drag.
“
You
’
re going in there?
”
s
he asked as Gary stepped closer to the disaster.

“
Yes.
”

“
Then you might want to take your rifle off your back.
”

Gary
’
s hands were trembling as he pulled on the sling to take the gun off his shoulder.

“
Is the safety off?
”

“
Of course it is!
”
h
e said hotly. He quietly moved the selector button to
‘OFF’
hoping
Deneaux
didn
’
t hear.
Gary was twenty or so feet into the wreckage when he began to hear the comforting roar of BT
’
s bike approaching.

A few moments later
,
BT shut his bike down and
dismounted
.
“
Wait up
,
Gary, I
’
ll come with you.
”

“
He has been.
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said.

“
What?
”
BT sa
id as he took his rifle out of
the special side mount built into the bike.

“
If he went any slower, I
’
d be able to watch him age.
”

BT checked his magazine an
d
quickly caught up to Gary.
“
What the hell happened here?
”
BT asked Gary as they walked past a burned out pick-up truck.

“
I don
’
t know
,
but whatever it was it involved the military. I
’
ve seen a few dead soldiers around.
”

It was difficult to get an accurate picture of what had happened. What had not been burned to a crisp h
ad been devoured by zombies and/or animals;
and what was left after that had been picked through by survivors.
The only thing that could be easily discerned was that
a great battle had been waged here. Thousands of zombies littered the far side of the road, the highway itself
,
and the beltway between the east and west routes. Not including the ones that were interspersed with the cars on this side of the roadway. Between dead bodies, zombies
,
and twisted metal
,
there was not a whole lot of room left for the trio to continue their journey.